Meat tenderizer



4 Sheets-Shee'cI 2 MEAT TENDERIZER S. G. BERGLUND ET AL Dec. 23, 1952 Filed July 24, 19.48

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Dec. 23, 1952 s. G. BERGLUND ET Al. 2,622,259

MEAT TENDERIZER Filed July 24. 1948 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 u JNVENTORS.

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Dec. 23, 1952 s. G. BERGLUND ET Al. 2,622,269

MEAT TENDERIZER Filed July 24, 1948 4 sheets-sheet 4 Patented Dec. 23, 1952 MEAT TENDERIZER Sven G. Berglund, Rockford, and Edward C. Karp,

Belvidere, Ill., assignors to Sanitary Scale Company, Belvidere, Ill., a corporation of Illinois Application July 24, 1948, Serial No. 40,586

6 Claims.

This invention relates to a new and improved tenderizer for meat or the like and more particularly to apparatus especially adapted for cutting and crushing the fibres of steaks or relatively flatI pieces of meat.

Apparatus for this general purpose is well known in the art and in general comprise means for cutting, slitting or crushing the bres in meat. By the use of such apparatus, the less expensive or tougher types of meat may be prepared so that they cook more satisfactorily, are more easily cut at the table and are more easily masticated.

Apparatus for general or lcommercial use for this purpose m-ust conform to certain standards as to safety of operation and, also, as to sanitary aspects in operation. Adaptability for effective and thorough cleaning and sterilizing of all parts coming in conta-ct with the food is essential.

Itis an object of the present `invention to provide a new and improved tenderizer for meat or the like.

It is a further object to provide a construction of this character in which the parts coming in contact with the meat may be readily dismantled, cleaned and reassembled.

It is also an object to provide a construction in which the operating members or cutters are carried by parallel shafts which are firmly supported Iand also capable of rapid disconnection from each other and the drive mechanism.

It is an additional object to provide such a construction in which the shafts are supported-as cantilevers by the drive assembly, and in which their free ends are detachably locked together so as to prevent their separation by the meat or the like being worked upon.

It is another object to provide a construction comprising cutting and working disks, the cutting edges of which may be sharpened with a minimum of labor and without removing them from assembled relationship on their shafts.

It is a further object to provide a construction which is simple in design and operation and adapted for easy cleaning and maintenance.

Other and further objects will appear as the description proceeds.

We have shown certain preferred embodiments of our invention in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure l is a 4perspective view showing the machine;

Figure 2 is an enlarged end view of the operating mechanism as seen from the right of Figure 1, the end of the housing being broken away;

Figure 3 is a front elevation of the machine, the working parts being shown in broken lines;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary elevation, partly in section, showing the motor drive assembly, and taken on line 4 4 of Figure 3;

Figure 5 is a horizontal view, partly in section, taken on line 5-5 of Figure 3;

Fig-ure 6 is a face view of a cutter disk;

Figure 7 is a plan View of the blade and shaft assembly and their supporting members; and

Figure 8 is a section taken on line 8 8 of Figure 6.

The general assembly of the tenderizer is shown in Figure l, the shaft driving assembly being enclosed in the housing II and the cutter shafts and cutters being housed in the tenderizer hood I2 which is secured to the housing of the driving assembly by the hood locking knob I4 which is connected t-o a threaded member, not shown, which is threaded into an opening in the top of the housing II. The tenderizer hood I2 is provided with the opening -I 5 for receiving the meat to be treated, a portion'of the upper face of the hood sloping from all sides toward the opening I5, as shown at Il. The control switch I8 serves to turn on and off the ydrive motor.

The relationship of the parts is shown in Figure 3 where the internal operating mechanism is indicated in broken lines.` The drive motor 20 is placed with its shaft extending vertically, and is secured by means of bolts 22 to the inner face of the main fixed portion 23 of housing I I. This xed portion 23 carries the supporting feet 24 on its lower face. The housing is provided with a removable section 25 by the removal of which the various drive yparts may be reached for adjustment or repair.

The central shaft 2l of motor 20 is connected by coupling 29 to a worm drive shaft 3| which is supported in a gear housing 33 secured by screws 3d to inwardly extending walls 36 which form a part of the main housing member 23. The housing section 25 is provided with an opening above the worm shaft 3| covered by the removable closure 32. The upper end of the shaft 3I is slotted, as shown at 35, so that it may be turned manually by means of a screwdriver or other suitable tool. These rdetails of construction are shown in Figures 3, 4 and 5. The worm drive shaft 3| is supported in the gear housing 33 by a plain bearing 38 in its upper portion and by ball bearing 39 in its lower portion. An -oi1 retaining ring llt is fitted above the ball bearing 3S. Oil or grease may be introduced in the gear housing 33 through the plug 42. The worm i4 carried on shaft 3l meshes with the worm gear 4S mounted on the horizontal stub shaft ill. The stub shaft fil, as best shown in Figure 5, has its rear end mounted in a bearing i8 in the gear housing 33. It carries the spur gear which meshes with'a similar spur gear 5I on a shorter driven stub shaft 53. This stub shaft 53 has its rear end fitted in a bearing 54 also carried by the gear housing 33.

The forward portions 56 and 5l of stub shafts 43 and 53 are similar and Yextend vhorizontally from the face of the housing member23,t.passing through oil retaining rings 58 and 59. Beyond the face of housing 23, the stub shafts hai/.ereduced portions 60 and 5I which are similar and which carry, respectively, the similar drive pins S2 and 53. The tubular cutter shafts 66 and (El have internal openings of a diameter to closely fit on the reducedstub shaft portions 50 and 5i. These shafts lare .provided with the enlarged rear bearing portions 53 andl which fit in bearings l5 and .H carried by the cutter frames 'Hl and 75. rThe'opposite or outer free ends -of the cutter shafts 55 and 6l also Yfit in bearings on the cutter frames M and l5, these shafts being provided .with reduced bearing members i8 and 79. As shownin Figures 5, 7 and 8, the cutter shafts are provided with a plurality of rcutting disks-i3d uniformly spaced by means of the spacing-ringsS. In order-that the `cutting disks 8G on the two shafts may be positively located so as to be spaced to interfit uniformly, a narrow spacing -sleeve 'i6 is provided on shaft 63 and a wider spacing ,sleeve Tl is provided on shaft 6l.

As best shown inFigures 3, l and, the cutter frames hl and 'l5 are of an elongated `U vshape with the legs of the 4vU `extending downwardly and providing the bearings for the ends of the cutter shafts. These cutterfrarnes are essentially cantilever beam construction. The cutter frame lf2, as ,shown in Figures 2 and '7, has an inwardly extending reduced portion 84 carrying'a pin 85 which nts into notches I3l in the mating bifurcated portions S3 of the cutterframe l5, thus holding the unsupported ends of the cutter frame against lateral separation due to anythrust vcaused by meat passingzthrough the tenderizer shafts. The linner endsof the cutter frames are yprovided with inwardly extending flat bracket Yportions Si) and Sil having circular openings 92 and S3 fitting, respectively, studs 9a and 95 which extend from the Vface of the housing 23.

The vertically movable locking slide or latch Sl is supported and held against the face of housing 23 by the guide member and stop 33 which is secured to member 25.3 by screws 53. The internal slot E35 formed vin the member 9'! guides and limits its movement on the member SS. The spring pressed detent ball 55 on the .housingl E3 ts into a socket lili formed on the lower rear portion of the slide Sl to yieldingly hold it in .its upper or unlatched position. As best shown in Figures 2, l and 8, this locking member 9i nts in front of the inner portionsof the brackets 3Q and .Sl which extend `inwardly 4from the cutter :frames .74 and 4 l5. These cutter frames are held in position against rotation about the axis of the cutter shafts 55 and El by means of the pins 32 and 93 and against longitudinal movement away from the housing 23 by means of this latch plate 91..

The bracket portions ed and 9| are notched at 53 and i511 to receive the upper at bar portions H and it@ of the stripper combs which guide the meat through and away from the tenderizing blades. These combs include the lower narrow bars fill and H13 to which the `Wires "H299 and l i@ extend downwardly'between 'the cutter bladestli. vThe oppositeends of the bar port-ions HB5 and 95 are supported in notches similar to notches |53 and E853 formed in .theinwardly extending lugs l l2 and H3 which Yarepart of the cutter frames 'i4 and 15, as rbest shown vin Figure 7.

'for the underside of the disks and prevent a hand thrust into the under side of the apparatus from being injured by the cutters. These return bendsalso preventthe meat .from `hanging up ontheloweredges of the combs.

A cutter `isshown in enlarged elevation in Figure 6. These blades rare shawn .in .plan View in Figures 5 and '7. Theywocmprise fiat disks of knife steelwith spaced .teeth H5. `Each tooth hasits.outercircumferential edge beveled, as shown at H3. These outer edges `of the '.teeth constitute portions of a .circular are based .on tlieaxis of rotationofthe disks. '.The'inwardly extending edge portions H3 .ofthe teeth VH5 are not beveled, but are .fiat and present the full width of the materialfroni which ,the .blades are formed. It will be `noted,.from Figures 5 and 7, that .these cutter disks are `cppositely.faced so that, as shown at the left of these figures, thersttwocutter blades have their bevels facing inwardiy toward each other andeach .pair thereafter V`is similarly faced. VThis single bevel `extends frcm one face tothe other, and the location with adjacent bevels oppositely Vfacing facilitates .sharpening the edges. ,A suitably formed le or whetstoney orothersharpening ,device maybe held betweenthe pair ofoppositely facing blades while the bladesarerotated and the blades thus quickly sharpened. This necessitates only half `as .many sharpening operations as would be necessary were each blade formed with a double bevel. The blades ,of the form shown have proven efficient in actual operation.

The method of operation ofthe device willbe readily understood from vthe description of .the construction. With the machine assembled as shown, when the drive motor is `turned y.on-.by means of switch IB, the motor ,revolves and, ',.by means of coupling 29, worm 44 and worm gear Lit, the longer stub shaft 3l is 4rotated in the clockwise direction, as seen inJFigures 2 .and 8, so ythat the teeth of the disks 86 rotate downwardly toward the similar teeth carried bythe opposite shaft. The shorter stub .shaft 53 .is driven from shaft fil by Ygear 5I meshing with similar gear 5% so that shaft 5l `rotates in .the counterclockwise direction. rlhe cutter shafts 68 and 5l are caused to rotate with Ythe stub shafts il and 53 by means of the pins 62 and 63 which fit in the corresponding .notches `.in the end portions 53 and E9 of the shafts 65 and 6l. The .meat to be treated is fed through the Yopening l5 in the top of the tenderizer hood l2 and passes between the bl-ades and |06- and down between the comb wires |09 and I0. Itis caught -by the teeth of the disks 80 and carried through and below the disks 80, being guided in its moviement bythe lower porti-ons of the comb wires |09 and ||0. Any suitable receptacle is placed below the laterally extending operating members to receive the meat after treatment. The meat is slit by the sharpened cutting edges and the bres are crushed by the flat sloping edges of the teeth.

In order to clean the parts coming in contact with the food, the tenderizer hood I2 is loosened by turning the hood locking knob |4 and the hood is lifted clear of the cutter bearings and cutter frames. The latch member 91 is then lifted until it is held in its upper position by the ball detent 96 and the entire cutter assembly removed by sliding it to the right, as seen in Figure 3, until the cutter shafts 66 and 61 clear the reduced ends 60 and 6| of the stub shafts 41 and 5,3. The combs |05 and |06 may be removed by lifting them out of their respective sockets so that these combs may be separately cleaned. The two cutter shafts still supported in the cutter frames may be separated from each other by swinging them apart about the axis of the locking pin 85 until the notches 81 may be slipped off the -pin 85 without the overlapping cutter disks interfering with each other. Careful handling of the sharp cutter disks is required, and they are in part guarded and readily handled by means of the immediate portions of the U-shaped cutter frames 14 and 15. All par-ts contacting the food may then be sterilized by any suitable method and kept in entirely sanitary condition. The operating parts are replaced by reversal of the procedure above described.

The cutter blades may be easily and rapidly sharpened when needed by removing the cover I2 and putting -the machine in operation. Suitable sharpening means may then be held successively between each pair of cutters with inwardly facing bevels, thus sharpening two blades at each step of the process.

While we have shown cer-tain preferred embodiments of our invention, these are to be vunderstood to be illustrative only as it isA capable of variations to meet differing conditions and requirements, and we contemplate such modications as come Within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A meat tenderizer or the like comprising a housing, drive mechanism within said housing having a pair of power shafts projecting from a side of-said housing in spaced relation, a pair of cutting devices each comprising a frame having spaced aligned journals and a shaft having cutters thereon journaled adjacent each of its ends in the journals of each of said frames, means associated with said frames for separably joining them together, other means coacti've between the frames and the housing detachably connecting the joined frames to said side of: the housing to bring the cutter shafts and power shafts 4into drive-communicating relationship and to support the joined fram-es as a cantilever from said side of the housing. y.

2. A meat tenderizer or the like comprisinga housing, drive mechanism within said housing providing a pair of power take-01T shaftsrextending from a side of the latter in spaced relation, a pair of cutting devices each having` a frame with spaced aligned journals and a cutter shaft journaled adjacent its ends in the journals' of each frame, interlocking means carried upon adjacent ends of each frame separably joining them together in pivotal relationship, and means adjacent the opposite ends of said frames vfor detachably securing the joined frames to said side of the housingto bring the cutter shafts and power shafts into drive-communicating relationship, said securing means yholding the joined frames to said side of the housing to support the frames as a cantilever extending from the housing.

3. A meat tenderizer or the like having an lip-standing shaft driving assembly providing a pair of substantially horizontally disposed power take-olf shafts at a side thereof, in combination with a tenderizing device removably mounted upon the shaft driving assembly in cooperative relation with said shafts comprising a pair of frames detachably connected together at adjacent ends, each frame having spaced shaft journals, a shaft journaled in each frame, said shafts carrying meat tenderizing means between their journals in the frames, means detachably securing the joined frames in rigid relation to the power take-off side of the shaft driving assembly, said joined frames extending from said side of the assembly as a cantilever, and drive tran-smission means connecting at least one of the power take-olf shafts and one of the shafts carried by the frames.

4. In a meat tenderizer and the like, a shaft driving assembly having a pair of driving shafts upon a lateral face thereof, a cutting device comprising a pair of yoke frames having aligned journals at their opposite end-s, a pair of cutter shafts journaled, respectively, in said aligned journals of each frame, a plurality of rotary cutters associated with each 4shaft in offset, overlapping relation to each other, interlocking members for connecting said frames to the lateral face of the shaft driving assembly to present the cutter shafts in alignment with the driving shafts, and separable means cooperating between the free ends of said frames for rigidly holding them together in operative relation.

5. In a meat tenderizer and the like, a shaf-t driving assembly having a pair of stub driving shafts projecting from a lateral face thereof, a cutting device comprising a pair of rigid yoke frames having aligned journals at their opposite ends, a pair of cutter shafts journaled, respectively, in the journals of each frame, a plurality of rotary cutters carried by each cutter shaft, interlocking means at an end of said frames for rigidly holding them together in separable, pivotal relationship, interfitting positive clutch elements engaged upon axial movement of said cutting shafts toward said stub driving shafts disposed in drive transmitting relation between axially aligned shafts, Iand a latch carried by the shaft driving assembly and engaging the yoke frames in joined relationship to lock the aligned shafts together.

6. Meat tenderizing apparatus comprising an Lip-standing power mechanism presenting a stub drive shaft at a side thereof, a housing for said mechanism having an opening to accommodate said stub shaft, a cutter assembly comprising a pair of yoke frames detachably joined together, a pair of cutter shafts carrying cutters journaled, respectively, in each of said yoke frames in parallel relation, means connecting at least one of said cutter shafts to said stub shaft to impart drive lto the cutter assembly, a fastening mechal7 nisrn coactve hetvveensad ,housing .and'nnefend .of -.sad ,joined yoke framesxadjacent tto .saidxstub -drive shatfor rigidly locking theoutter assembly to -sad :housing 4.to :maintain `said shafts Y in connected relation, and @removable cover cooperating withr said housingto enoloses-aid cutter-having an opening at its top `and bottom'dennga passageway 'to `and lthroughseid cutters for 4the accommodation of pieces to be treated.

KSVEN G -BERGLUND vEDWARD C. KARP,

, REFERENCES CITED The `-iolovving :references 'are -of record in the file :of vthis zpatent:

8 UNITED STATES :PATENTS Number 'Name Date -Wood 'July 9, '1935 Norman July 12, 1942 VJackson Apr. 18, 1944 Spang Oct. 17, 1944 Jackson Dee. 5, 1944 Ahrndt Oct. 15, 1946 Jackson kJuly 24, 1951 

